Nov. 15, 1911 



but I wish we could have an authoritative 

 answer. [This question depends a good 

 deal on locality and the number of bees in 

 it. In many places in the South, Mr. 

 SchoU's estimate is not out of the way; but 

 in most localities of the North, if we take 

 one year with another, and strike an aver- 

 age, from ten years, 100 lbs. per colony 

 would be too high, even for extracted. Pos- 

 sibly 35 lbs. of comb and 75 of extracted 

 would be nearer the correct figures. Then 

 there is another factor that must be taken 

 into consideration. A backlotter who has, 

 say, only a dozen colonies, with no other 

 bees in the vicinity for two or three miles, 

 might secure an average of 150 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 75 lbs. of comb honey. He 

 might, some years, get from some individ- 

 ual colonies 250 lbs. of extracted and 150 lbs. 

 of comb honey. Then he might have a 

 year when his bees would barely get a liv- 

 ing. 



The larger the number of bees that one 

 keeps, the smaller will be the yield per col- 

 ony unless he distributes them around in 

 out-apiaries, far enough apart, so that each 

 colony will have, we will say, "good pick- 

 ing. " One of the most extensive producers 

 of honey in the United States once told us 

 that his average of comb honey did not ex- 

 ceed 35 lbs. per colony, and his extracted 

 not over 60. His bees were located in one 

 of the northern States; and yet we have 

 known of some extensive producers located 

 in tropical climates whose averages would 

 run along pretty evenly at 200 lbs. per col- 

 ony. These we may say, however, were ex- 

 ceptional. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, you ask, p. 614, whether 

 that fruit-eating joke is on A. I. Root or 

 myself. Both. He started it by saying he 

 was going without supiier, and then inno- 

 cently revealing that he was eating apples 

 at supper-time. But there's more than a 

 joke in it, and it's of such immense imjiDrt- 

 ance that it deserves a whole page instead 

 of a Straw. Much is said of the wholesome- 

 ness of fruit. I arise to remark that, to a 

 great many people, it does more harm than 

 good. They eat a full meal — all they care 

 for — and then add the fruit. That over- 

 loads, and does harm. When A. I. Itoot 

 eats nothing but ajjples at a meal, there's 

 little danger he'll overeat. If fruit is to be 

 eaten at the same meal with other things, 

 let the fruit come first. "Oh! but if you 

 eat apples before dinner you'll spoil your 

 dinner." Well, better spoil your dinner 

 that way than to spoil your stomach and 

 your temper. Besides, it's not spoiling 

 your dinner to make fruit the first part of it. 

 The fashion is to eat breakfast-melons at 

 the first of the meal, and no one complains 

 that it spoils the breakfast. Follow the 

 same fashion, and let all fruit come first at 

 a meal. The same with nuts. Last winter, 

 many days I ate about ten blackwalnuts 

 before dinner, and it worked well. After 

 dinner they would have done harm. More 

 fruit should be eaten, and more nuts; but 

 they should not come after a full meal. 



679 



[One thing we found in our own experience 

 was very important; and that is, not to mix 

 two kinds of diet — that is to say, a large 

 quantity of fruit should not be eaten with 

 meat. They do not go together any better 

 than mince pie. If one finds it to his ad- 

 vantage to eat meat because it is digested 

 in the stomach, he must not mix a lot of 

 other food with it at the same meal. A 

 fruit diet should be exclusively of fruit, 

 and a meat diet almost exclusively of meat. 

 Don't you remember, doctor, how you prov- 

 ed to us, years ago, that you could eat 

 clear meat at one meal and clear fruit an- 

 other meal, without any discomfort ? We 

 have since tried it time and time again to 

 our own satisfaction. — P]D.] 



Mr. Editor, speaking of the recurrence 

 of European foul brood here, you raise the 

 question whether I have Italianized. Be- 

 fore answering that, let me say that I en- 

 tirely agree with you and others in think- 

 ing that the correct rule is to Italianize if 

 you want to get rid of European foul brood. 

 Italians are more vigorous than the blacks 

 of this country, consequently better honey- 

 gatherers, and the same vigor that makes 

 them better honey-gatherers makes them 

 better at resisting disease. Now to your 

 question. I have introduced in the past 

 few years some 20 queens of the best Italian 

 stock I thought I could find in this country, 

 and this year I imported three queens di- 

 rect from Italy. I have bees of the yellow- 

 est kind down to those that show no yellow- 

 color; but I think the yellow largely pre- 

 dominates. I have not discovered that the 

 yellow bees are more nearly immune than 

 the darker ones. Still, I may be mistaken, 

 as I can give no positive figures. I know 

 that No. 99, pure Italian, though not affect- 

 ed last year, was affected this year. Let 

 me hasten, however, to say that my case is 

 exceptional. For years, without reference 

 to color, I bred from the best honey-gather- 

 ers, and secured hybrids that are hustlers. 

 I have not been able to get any Italians 

 that will equal them in storing. Being so 

 vigorous at storing, why should they not be 

 vigorous at resisting disease? But while 

 they are storers, they are also stingers. I 

 have been Italianizing, not to get better 

 storers, not to fight disease, but to get bet- 

 ter-natured bees. This does not prove that 

 hybrids are better than Italians. It proves 

 that breeding from the best will give better 

 bees. If I had stuck to pure Italians, al- 

 ways breeding from the best, I might now 

 have Italians better than my present hy- 

 brids, and not so cross. So if you want to 

 fight European foul brood, Italianize. 

 [We agree with you that, if you had used 

 the same care in improving a pure Italian 

 stock, you would have secured as good or 

 even a better strain of bees for gathering 

 honey than you did from your best hybrids. 

 And it would probably be true that, if you 

 had only pure Italians, you would to-day 

 be almost immune to the attacks of Euro- 

 pean foul brood. The experience of others 

 points this way very strongly. — Ed.] 



